QUALIFYING RIDERS PROVE THEIR WORTH AT SWATCH TTR SIX(6)STAR O’NEILL EVOLUTION
Date: 3.01.2008
Updated: 4.01.2008 02:14
Davos, Switzerland: Backside Air, after Backside Air, after Backside Air, the Quarterpipe qualifications for the Swatch TTR SIX(6)STAR O’Neill Evolution went down on another brisk night in Davos, Switzerland. On a massive Quarterpipe, the qualification riders entered themselves into a backside air session with the occasional Backside 5 or Rodeo finding it’s way into the mix. Despite the lack of variety, 16 riders broke away from the pack and proved their worth to ride with the big dogs in Saturday’s 32-man Quarterpipe semi-finals.
On his second run in Heat 1, Colin Frei (SUI) busted out a smooth backside 540 to earn him the top spot in his heat. The second heat saw 15-year-old, Canadian Rider Seb Toots (CAN) land the highest Backside Air of the night at 7.4 m on his fourth run, and also take the top spot in his heat. Taking the third top position in Heat 3, Norwegian rider Tore Holvik (NOR) impressed the judges with a clean Backside Indy on his third run.
The qualifying riders will have to bring out some new tricks for Saturday if the hope to make it through the semis and into the finals, earning themselves a piece of the $100 000 USD prize purse and some much needed TTR Ranking Points.
Top 16 Qualifying Quarterpipe Riders:
Quarterpipe Qualification Heat 1:
1. Colin Frei SUI K2
2. Stefano Munari ITA O’Neill
3. Olivier Gittler FRA Burton
4. Daniel Avdaloff CHI Burton
5. Rene Broder SUI K2
Quarterpipe Qualification Heat 2:
1. Seb Toots CAN O’Neill
2. Arthur Longo FRA APO
3. Kim Rune Hansen NOR Burton
4. Markus Malin FIN Salomon
5. Peetu Piiroinen FIN Burton
6. Steve Krijbolder NED O’Neill
Quarterpipe Qualification Heat 3:
1. Tore Holvik NOR Bateleon
2. Manuel Pietropoli ITA Burton
3. Gary Zebrowski FRA Nitro
4. Benoit Thomas-Javid FRA Rome
5. Valerian Ducourtil FRA APO
The Halfpipe qualifying session on Wednesday night however, featured a lot more variety with strong amplitude and smooth combos from the top 16 riders who qualified into Friday’s Halfpipe semi-finals at the O’Neill Evolution. Every rider was loving the pipe conditions and construction, which was built 20 m longer than last year, allowing five comfortable hits in everyone’s line.
1st place rider in Heat 1, the local Mario Kappeli (SUI) took advantage of the pipe length, making a total of six hits with a Frontside Air, to Backside 540, to Frontside 900, to Backside Air, and rounding out his run with an Alley-oop McTwist. Heat 2 saw Finnish rider Peetu Piiroinen (FIN) complete a highly technical run with a Backside 540, to a Frontside 720, to Cab 720, to a Frontside Nose, to a Backside 900 and adding a nice handplant to the end. Gary Zebrowski who took 1st in Heat 3 spiced things up in his second run with a Frontside Air, to Backside Air, to Cab 1080, to Cab 720.
The qualifying pipe riders are certainly going to give the 16 seeded riders a run for their money. Invited swiss rider Iouri Podladtchikov (SUI) mentioned Peetu Piiroinen as “one to watch out for as he could probably win the superpipe event. I don’t even think he needs to qualify!”
Friday’s semi-finals will for sure be jam-packed with technical combos as every rider fights for one of 16 spots in the finals. More TTR Ranking Points are up for grabs in the first finals of the two-format competition.
Top 16 Qualifying Halfpipe Riders:
Halfpipe Qualifying Heat 1:
1. Mario Kappeli SUI Ride
2. Ben Stewart NZE Nitro
3. Dan Wakeham GBR Nike
4. Kosuke Hosokawa JPN Kissmark
5. Daniel Friberg SUI Burton
6. Therry Brunner SUI Nitro
Halfpipe Qualifying Heat 2:
1. Peetu Piiroinen FIN Burton
2. Olivier Gittler FRA Burton
3. Stefano Munari ITA O’Neill
4. Gian Simmen SUI O’Neill
5. Pekka Ruokanen FIN Flow
Halfpipe Qualifying Heat 3:
1. Gary Zebrowski FRA Nitro
2. Manuel Pietropoli ITA Burton
3. Tore Holvik NOR Bateleon
4. Sergio Berger SUI Quiksilver
5. Stale Sandbech NOR Oakley
LIVE WEBCAST INFO:
If you’re not in Davos on Friday or Saturday, don’t forget to log into http://www.oneilleurope.com/evolution/ or www.freecaster.tv for live coverage with full commentary of both the semi-finals and the finals of the Swatch TTR SIX(6)STAR O’Neill Evolution (Friday 17.00 CET & Saturday 18.00 CET). Also check out the TTR video player for the live broadcast and unique and behind-the-scenes content of all the action.
Related Content
Downloads
- TTR TOP 10 MEN
World No. 1
NOR 326.82 
2 
Podladtchikov, I SUI 
280.76 3 Haller, C SUI 
275.69 4 
McMorris, M CAN 268.30 5 Holvik, T NOR 246.55 6 Tonteri, R FIN 228.56 7 Sandbech, S NOR 221.95 8 Backstrom, K SWE 221.72 9 Toutant, S CAN 220.89 10 Badertscher, U NOR 200.91 All results » - TTR TOP 5 WOMEN
World No. 1
SUI 260.73 2 Rukajärvi, E FIN 256.20 3 Okada, R JPN 231.79 4 Mittermueller, S GER 210.23 5 Anderson, J USA 210.03 All results » - Brand Ranking
- Movers & Shakers
Movers & Shakers Men 106 Kudo, K JPN +1899 522 Saito, S JPN +1559 178 De campo, C AUS +1518 187 Yanagihara, M JPN +1414 136 Allan, C AUS +735 Movers & Shakers Women 45 Ooe, H JPN +313 70 Lee, E CAN +262 43 Iijima, R JPN +223 26 Yamaoka, S JPN +168 55 Bernard, E FRA +161 - Top Nations
